Every photograph someone takes is also a type of self-portrait reflecting them, because each contains information about the person who made it. Its visual contents metaphorically represent what was important enough to the photographer's eyes at that moment that they chose to freeze it permanently. Even though they may well not be in that picture themselves, every step of choosing where, when, who, how, and why to take any photograph says as much about its creator as it does about the subject matter being recorded on film.

       The surface visual contents of people's photos, along with the unconscious decisions they make while planning or taking them, are all indications of people, places, and things that have mattered most inside them. These were moments that made a difference for some reason, whereas photos of things that don't matter, don't get taken (or kept) in the first place!

       Therefore, all photographs in people's personal photographic collection (including images "appropriated" from other people's photographic images) not only make visible the underlying values that operationalize their life, but also illustrate how these then construct the beliefs and perceptions they measure it against. These are the very source of their feelings, thoughts, attitudes, behaviors, and expectations or judgments of others (including themselves!).

       Using this technique to probe the "visual facts" shown in photographs that clients have taken, kept, or gathered together (such as greeting cards, magazine photos, postcards, and so forth), can provide a lot of therapeutically-important information about what has most touched their heart, mind, and life. Such photos are nonverbally encoded with many clues about the way their makers perceive, make sense of, and evaluate the world around them (and their role within it) -- and they are the physical site where their feelings, thoughts, and memories have been deposited.

       It is clear that people take and keep pictures because of what the scene or moment is about emotionally, rather than what it is just simply of visually. Because of this, exploring "below the surface" of a photo's simple visual contents will quickly demonstrate that the camera's lens has focused inward into the photographer at least as much as it has outward onto the subject matter being pointed at...

How This Technique Works

       In addition to working with photos that clients have taken with their own camera or brought to therapy from their personal collection of "found" images, this technique can also include working with photographs that have been photocopied, collaged, digitally-created, electronically-scanned, or otherwise appropriated. Therapists not only explore the "what/where/who/when/why" of their clients' pictures, but also look for larger patterns of repeated themes, personal symbols and metaphors, and other visual information that the client might have been unaware of themselves at the original moment of taking the snapshot.

       Sometimes when clients simply take the time to find out what they have been photographing over the past several years, and explore what these images say about them (as well as the inner thoughts or feelings contained within them), they are better able to see the background roots and contexts of their presenting problems!

       Whether clients bring in already-taken photos on their own initiative, or at the therapist's request, these can be used to focus discussions about things in their life beyond what appears in their photos. Therapeutic processing of clients' snapshots may initially seem to just be about "explaining the photo better", but discussing, partializing, reflecting upon, and otherwise examining the photo's "story" (and the reason they took or kept it) will usually bring to light other associated feelings, thoughts, memories, problems or related issues.

       In addition to looking at the tangible photographic images that clients bring with them to the counseling session, therapists can also design more active client photo-taking, -making, or -gathering "homework" assignments tailored toward certain specific goals or issues they want the client to explore in greater depth.

       Photographing permits clients to discover more about themselves, as well as to compare similarities and differences between "expected" and "actual" parts of their identity, and thus perhaps discover where some of their expectations, and related disappointments, are coming from. The photographic results of such picture-taking/finding assignments can be used to activate PhotoTherapy process much the same way as those already-existing photos the client has brought from home.

       Photo-taking assignments do not have to be tightly focused, because "fishing with a wide net" often brings in a better "catch" (for example: "This is the last roll of film on Earth; please take pictures with it and bring these to your next session", "Go take photos you'd like to leave as a visual legacy for your grandchildren", and other similarly "wide-topic" assignments). Photographing what affects them gives clients more control over its unknown or unexpected aspects; getting it "outside" themselves gives them a better viewpoint from which to explore it more safely.

       For example*, the client could be asked to take or find photos that show: "Places, people, and things that interest me", "What I most like to do", "My home, family, friends, and pets", "A typical day in my life" -- or even a bit deeper, such as: "What I'd like to change about the world", "What makes me happy (or sad or angry or...), "What needs fixing in my life", "My past and my future", "Barriers that get in my way", "How my life would be if I wasn't having these problems", or even "Things I can't tell in words!"

* These questions are samples given only to illustrate the kinds that therapists might ask clients when using this technique. Feel free to try them out yourself with your own personal photos, but unless you are professionally trained in counseling, please do not use them with other people, as the results could be harmful.

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       As with the other four PhotoTherapy techniques, self-portraits can be worked with either on their own or in combination with other kinds of client photographs, as well as in combination with expressive arts media and other appropriated imagery for additional therapeutic enhancement.

See examples, more photos illustrating this technique,
and personal anecdotes sent in by visitors to this site.

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An Example

(Taken from PhotoTherapy Techniques -- Exploring the Secrets of Personal Snapshots and Family Albums)

       William's collection of years of snapshot-keeping was kept in large piles in storage boxes and overflowing drawers in his home. As he felt there were still a lot of unanswered questions "leftover" about his childhood that might be related to his current difficulties with entering intimate relationships, he asked for therapy to help him better understand himself.

       When asked to bring about twenty to forty photos to his appointment, William did manage to narrow his large collection down to a smaller selection. But it became more difficult when he was asked to reduce this to the ten he most wanted to focus on during his counseling session. By the time the therapist finished having him prioritize his choices down to only one to begin with, his eyes were brimming and his voice nearly inaudible, especially when having to decide between the final two photos, one of each of his parents.

       William describes what happened to him during that session:

       "This was much more interesting than I had thought it might be... It was quite a task gathering twenty to forty photographs that meant something to me! The "process" of the session had begun with this search. Why did the six-year-old "me" with the neighbor's dog bring that warm feeling? Why did that Halloween photo make me grin with a flow of memories? Why did I find pictures that I thought I'd thrown away in anger? I arrived for the session feeling like I was carrying something very special in my leather carrying case, this collection of "me". It's funny too, because photos never really seemed to hold that kind of power for me. I began to wonder what this collection of photos was saying about me. I remember being quick to say that I wasn't the photographer for most of the collection, trying to lessen the responsibility or impact. (Ha!).

       "Choosing ten was fairly straightforward. Narrowing those ten down to five was much more difficult. Who (not what) could I do without? Narrowing from five down became a very anxious event. My parents are divorced, and in my collection of forty photos there wasn't one of the two of them together (interesting...). So as important as they both are in my life, I wanted to have a picture of each of them. I wanted to include a picture of an old boyfriend -- my first. The photo has always been a reminder of the passion I have for life (among other things!). I had wanted to include a picture of another boyfriend (the end of that relationship had been recent and difficult), but I didn't own a photo of him. So my therapist had me use a piece of blank white paper as a substitute (actually a folded-up Kleenex!). With some imagination, I could picture him clearly in the whiteness of the tissue. I seem to have totally blocked out what the fifth photo was.

       "Narrowing the number of photos was hell. No one could have convinced me that pictures I had already seen hundreds of times could be such a big "key" to information about me. But they were a "roadway" leading to well-defined (but well buried) memories. In verbal therapy sessions I've spent a good deal of time talking about my parents. My close friends would be the first to complain that when I talk, I distance a certain amount of emotion. And yet here, with this picture of my mother four inches from my face, I'm feeling angry, unloved, alone, and four years old. My therapist's probing questions kept me on track for much of the time, but also allowed me to feel in control.

       "Back to the folded Kleenex. Angry, disappointed, unloved, and alone. This is what the last relationship had left me feeling. I had been the stable understanding one throughout most of the relationship. Here I was feeling alone again. And recognizing it in context with other relationships in my life. At times I couldn't see the Kleenex for the warm tears that flooded my eyes. The sadness and anger took the form of huge sobs, a crying from within my body that I'm not used to. I've been able to connect with this type of feeling in a traditional verbal therapy session, but not this readily! All my photos of other people turned out to be so much about me and I never knew this before. People just cannot know how powerful this is internally for someone unless they hear about it from someone who went through it".

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More Photos

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Personal Anecdotes*

* If you want to submit your own personal anecdote to this page, send it to the PhotoTherapy Centre for consideration.

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